216 Scientific Proceedings (108). 



it, but this, thick and dark, was six to ten times as concentrated in 

 pigment as the control specimen in the rubber balloon. The 

 results were the same when, without other variation in the exper- 

 iment, the gall-bladder was rilled to the normal distension with 

 sterile bile of known character prior to withdrawal of the catheter. 

 The contents of the branches of the hepatic duct connecting with 

 the gall-bladder were always examined at autopsy. Here a thin 

 bile, like that in the balloon, was obtained, a direct proof that the 

 thick contents of the gall-bladder had not come as such from the 

 liver. 



It is evident that the normal gall-bladder can concentrate 

 bile with very great rapidity. 



119 (1579) 



Osmosis as a factor in the local accumulation of leucocytes in 



the animal body. 



By Frank Maltaner and E. N. Hoppe (by invitation). 



[From the Division of Laboratories and Research, New York State 

 Department of Health, Albany.] 



Chemical forces have generally been held responsible for the 

 chemotaxis of leucocytes. Some of the early classical experiments 

 which led to this belief were repeated. The results showed that 

 the work had been misinterpreted, and also indicated that the 

 forces which were active in producing the phenomenon were 

 physical in character. 



These physical forces are the forces responsible for osmosis and 

 diffusion. In a solution not at concentration equilibrium they will 

 act in directions counter to each other. 



In the aqueous solutions examined, leucocytes are shown to 

 move in the direction of the osmotic force and opposite to the 

 direction of the diffusing substances in solution. 



This motion is explained as being due to the greater perme- 

 ability of leucocytes for water and the fact that their total mass is 

 negligible as compared to their content of water. 



